Download Rescue – May 3, 2015 Message Guide – Exodus 2:1

Rescue – May 3, 2015
Message Guide – Exodus 2:1-10
Memory Verse: “What is impossible with man, is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
1. Pharaoh had a troubling situation on his hands in Exodus 1. What had he tried to do to
eliminate his issue?
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Worried by the rising tide of immigration, Pharaoh
tried everything he could think of to stop the Israelites from flooding over Egypt. First he forced
God’s people to become his slaves, “but the more they were oppressed, the more they
multiplied and spread” (Exodus 1:12). Next he ordered the midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill
every Hebrew boy at birth. But these two splendid women defied Pharaoh, and “the people
increased and became even more numerous” (Exodus 1:20).
Poor Pharaoh! It seemed that the more he tried to weaken the Israelites, the more powerful they
became! Heaving failed at slavery and infanticide, he finally resorted to genocide: “Then
Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every boy that is born [to the Hebrews, footnote] you
must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live” (Exodus 1:22) (Philip Ryken, Preaching the Word:
Exodus).
2. What does Pharaoh’s attempt to annihilate the Israelites show us about the power of
evil?
Pharaoh’s attempt to annihilate the Israelites gives us insight into the power of evil, which is
never satisfied but always lusts for more. Each time Pharaoh’s plans were foiled, he devised a
scheme that was even wider in its scope and more deadly in its execution. Plan A was to beat
the Israelites into submission with the rod of slavery. Plan B was to have their male offspring
killed in secret (possibly Pharaoh thought that Hebrew girls would be assimilated by
intermarrying with the Egyptians). Once both of the first two plans failed, plan C was death by
drowning in the Nile. With this final, genocidal solution, Pharaoh’s murderous depravity was out
in the open. He would not stop until all of Egypt was implicated in his crimes against humanity.
This is the way evil spreads, unless it is stopped. What a man at first only dares to do in private,
he gradually becomes unashamed to do even in public, with the result that many other people
get pulled into the abyss of evil (Philip Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus).
3. The text does not say much about Moses’ parents. How is it clear in Scripture that this
man and woman lived by extreme faith?
At this point the Bible does not mention the mother’s name, no doubt because this story is
mainly about her baby. Later we will learn that she was called Jochebed and that she was
married to Amram (Exodus 6:20). But here she is left unnamed, anonymous. She was just an
ordinary woman. The only extraordinary thing about her was that she lived by faith. In Hebrews
11 – The Faith Hall of Fame – we read that “by faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months
after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the
king’s edict” (v.23). This brave couple feared God more than they feared any man. They were
determined to live by faith (Philip Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus).
4. In what ways have you lived by faith, trusting God’s promises over those of the world?
Explain.
Personal.
5. How was Moses’ mother creative in her disobedience?
She closed the lid of the basket and set him afloat. This was another act of creative
disobedience. If Pharaoh had decreed that all the baby boys must be thrown into the river, then
into the river he would go! But it still went against every motherly instinct in her body.
Jochebed’s actions are described so as to emphasize her tenderness. To translate the Hebrew
more literally, “she placed the child in [the basket] and placed it among the reeds” (Exodus 2:3).
When she gently laid her baby down, she was tucking her heart inside the basket. It was the
kind of thing a mother could only do by faith, but then she was a woman of faith. Having
received her son as a gift from the Lord, she turned him back over to the Lord in faith. Jochebed
would hardly have sent her daughter along to watch if she had expected her child to be
murdered! If it seemed like she was abandoning him, it was only to God’s loving care, as every
faithful parent must (Philip Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus).
6. For those of you who are parents, how has it been difficult to turn your kids over to
the Lord in faith? What did that look like for you? Explain.
Personal.
7. This was a horrific time to be a Hebrew. Many evils were being committed and it did
not look like there was an end in sight. How was God working behind the scene to
ensure his plan came to fruition?
In salvation, God delivers us from evil. At the very darkest moment of Israel’s captivity – when
evil was rampant and the tyrant seemed to triumph – at that very moment God was working in
history to save his people. His plan called for a little child to be born in secret and then floated
down the river right to Pharaoh’s doorstep. In this triumph over evil, God displays his divine
sense of humor. Peter Enns comments, “Ironically, this child, once doomed to death by
Pharaoh’s decree, will become the very instrument of Pharaoh’s destruction and the means
through which all Israel escapes not only Pharaoh’s decree, but Egypt itself.” Pharaoh was
foiled again! Later, when he reflected on God’s triumph over Pharaoh’s evil, Moses could have
quoted his great-granduncle Joseph: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to
accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20) (Philip Ryken,
Preaching the Word: Exodus).
8. Is there any connection between Moses and Noah? If so, what is it?
The Bible calls attention to God’s saving work by calling the basket, literally, an “ark” (tebha).
The only other place the Bible uses this Hebrew term is in the story of Noah (Genesis 6:149:18). This is a hit that God saved Moses in much the same way that he saved Noah. Cassuto
writes: “This is certainly not a mere coincidence. By this verbal parallelism Scripture apparently
intends to draw attention to the thematic analogy. IN both instances one worthy of being saved
and destined to bring salvation to others is to be recued from death by drowning. In the earlier
section the salvation of humanity is involved, here it is the salvation of the chosen people.” Both
Noah and Moses passed through the deadly waters by riding in an ark, the vessel of salvation.
They were baptized, as it were, in the same water which others perished (Philip Ryken,
Preaching the Word: Exodus).
9. How was God at work in the life of Pharaoh’s daughter? How have you seen God at
work in the life of those around you? Explain.
God was also at work in the life of Pharaoh’s daughter. In the providence of God, she went
down to the river at just the right time in just the right place to discover Moses: “Then Pharaoh’s
daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank.
She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it” (Exodus 2:5). It was a
dangerous moment. Despite Jochebed’s best intentions, her baby seemed to be in harm’s way.
After all, the Egyptians had been ordered to drown Hebrew babies, and this woman was the
daughter of Pharaoh himself! With mounting suspense we read: “She opened it and saw the
baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew babies,’ she said”
(v.6). The moment she peeked into the basket, the young woman’s curiosity turned into
compassion. Either because of the circumstances surrounding the baby’s discovery, or because
he was circumcised, Pharaoh’s daughter realized that he was a Hebrew slave. And in direct
defiance of her father’s orders, she determined to adopt him as her own son (Philip Ryken,
Preaching the Word: Exodus).
10. In what ways will you apply the message of the sermon to your life this coming
week? Who will keep you accountable?
Personal.